


Slice of Life Rokushi One-Shot Collection

by Michdie



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Depression, F/M, Fluff, Kissing Games, Light Angst, Nightclub, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wisdom Teeth, Xemnas is a good dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21747712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michdie/pseuds/Michdie
Summary: Various slice of life Rokushi one shots. Warning: super fluffy and adorable.
Relationships: Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 47





	1. Wisdom Teeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xion gets her wisdom teeth out and and makes a fool of herself in front of her crush.

Roxas sat in the passenger seat of the car with his head propped on his hand, staring out the window, a small smile playing on his face. Axel had picked him up from school, a rare occasion since he and Xion usually rode the tram home. But today, she missed the latter half of school, stuck in an appointment with the orthodontist to get her wisdom teeth removed. Axel had been with her, but briefly left to pick up Roxas so he could be there when she came to.

“Do you think she’s going to embarrass herself?” he asked.

Axel chuckled. “I hope so, otherwise, what’s even the point of getting your wisdom teeth out?”

Roxas’s smile turned wicked as the weight of his phone grew heavier in his pocket, prepared to capture every word she said to use for black mail. This was going to be a good day.

They pulled up to the Orthodontist’s office and went inside, meeting the receptionist who led them into a back room. Roxas pulled out his phone, opening up the camera and preparing it for a video as he and Axel stepped inside. Xion sat in the chair, staring at the ceiling, cheeks bulging with gauze, and she looked down at her friends with a blank expression.

“You’re back,” she said around her mouthful of gauze.

“Yup,” Axel said, pulling two chairs from the corner of the room for him and Roxas to sit in. “And look who I brought.”

“Hi, Xion,” Roxas said, sitting in the chair and pressing record on his phone. “Smile for the camera.”

“Camera?” She furrowed her brows. “Am I a model?”

Roxas laughed. “Yup. Strike a pose for me.”

Xion brought a lazy peace sign up to her eyes but her blank expression remained. What she did next seemed to sort of resemble blowing a kiss, but he couldn’t be sure. He laughed anyway.

“Roxas?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

He laughed again, zooming in on her face to capture her glazed over eyes. “I love you, too,” he said with amusement. It was a true statement, but he didn’t think she’d remember this conversation anyway, so he didn’t mind saying it.

“Really?” Her face did change then, looking as if she were about to cry. “I’m so happy right now.” He laughed. “Do you think we could get married—?”

“What?!” He and Axel both laughed out loud, and Roxas had to steady the hand holding his phone.

“And maybe have some kids?” she continued, voice thick with emotion. “That would be nice.” Tears welled up in her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.

“Yeah it would,” he agreed with a laugh.

“We could name them Richard and Jojo.” She brought a hand to her face, wiping away the trails of tears. “Why is my face wet?”

“You were crying,” Axel said, “Because you were thinking about how wonderful it’d be being married to Roxas.”

The boy snickered and Xion flicked her eyes back over to him. “Oh, yeah,” she said, reaching her hand out to him. Roxas leaned forward in his chair and took the offered hand. “I think I would like that.”

“Yeah?” he said, grinning as he held back laughter and rubbed her hand with his thumb.

She nodded. “Yeah. You’re just super sweet and strong, and I like spending time with you.”

“Thank you. I like spending time with you, too.”

“You’d be a really good dad.” More tears fell on Xion’s face, but she didn’t have the mental capacity to wipe them away again. “Axel, can we get married?”

He chuckled. “Sure, why not?”

Xion nodded. “We could get a pretty house and a dog and we can all be a family of Keyblade wielders and stuff.”

“That sounds fun,” Roxas said.

“We can have our wedding in the summer on the beach,” she said, rubbing her eyes with her forearm, “And our wedding colors will be sea salt ice cream.”

“Our wedding colors are going to be ice cream?” he asked, grin widening.

“Blue,” she clarified.

“Oh, right, right.”

“And Kairi’s gonna be my maid of honor. She said she would.”

“That was nice of her.”

Xion stared up at the ceiling again and pressed her hands into her eyes before letting them fall back at her sides. “All the brides maids are going to wear blue, and you’re gonna wear a blue tie and a vest but no jacket ‘cause the beach his too hot for that.”

“Got it.”

“And our wedding song will be ‘I See the light.’”

“Okay. It sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Roxas said.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Roxas felt a flutter in his stomach. Had she really day-dreamed about their potential wedding? He knew he had. Well, maybe not in that much detail, but being married to Xion and spending the rest of his life with her had crossed his mind once or twice or a few hundred times.

The arrival of the Orthodontist halted whatever she had planned to say next. Roxas put away his phone as he told Axel what kind of pain-killers Xion needed for the next few days and anything else that he might find important. He sent them on their way with the admonition to only give her soft foods.

Roxas took Xion by the hand and led her out to the car, opening the door for her and helping her inside. He clicked her seatbelt in for her and walked around to the other side, sliding into the back next to her. Axel looked in the rearview mirror at the two of them with a glint in his eye, smirking and driving into the street.

Roxas pulled his phone back out and sent the video he had taken in the group chat with all of their friends. Their replies arrived quickly.

_Kairi: Oh my gosh, Xion! What the heck! Lolololol_

_Sora: I get to be the best man ;)_

_Ven: Can I go with to pick out the dog?_

_Riku: She’s gonna kill you for taking a video of this_

_Naminé: Definitely_

_Roxas: Worth it_

“Roxas,” Xion said, holding her phone right up to her eyes, “What do all these say?” He read the messages to her and she nodded before typing out her own reply.

_Xion <3: olive hummm doon match_

Roxas laughed out loud and put his face in his hand in a poor attempt to reign himself in. “What is that supposed to say?” he cackled.

“‘I love him sooo much,’” she replied blandly. She brought the screen to her face again. “Did I do it right?”

He laughed even harder, finding himself short of breath. “No!” He brought up his phone again and said, “Let me do it for you.”

“Thanks.”

_Roxas: She meant to say “I love him sooooooo much” lol can you believe this kid?_

_Kairi: I can. She never shuts up about you_

_Naminé: I was there for the brides maids dress conversation, so yes I can believe it._

Butterflies erupted in Roxas stomach. He looked over at his friend who stared at her phone, still trying to make sense of the strange symbols she saw there. Did she really talk to her girl-friends about this imaginary wedding?

_Xion <3: ieamt tokvbwlll_

_Sora: please, please take a video of her reading these when she’s feeling all right again_

_Riku: I’d pay good munny to see that_

“Xion,” Roxas said, “What does that say?”

“I want Taco Bell.”

He laughed again.

Unfortunately for Xion, Taco Bell would have been too difficult for her to eat, so Axel prepared spaghetti and chocolate cupcakes when they were home a few hours later, putting her serving of noodles in the blender for good measure. If she enjoyed it, Roxas couldn’t tell. He did, however, have to be on his toes to clean up after her whenever she attempted to talk with the liquefied food in her mouth, swooping in to dab at her face and attempt to catch what fell onto her chest and lap, laughing all the while. Eventually, Roxas decided that she could not be trusted to feed herself and ended up spooning the contents of her bowl into her mouth, shushing her if she tried to talk.

She managed the cupcakes just as poorly, sending crumbled bits of cake everywhere, on herself, the floor, and smeared all over her face like a toddler. And to repay Roxas’s kindness for helping her with her dinner, she swiped a dollop of frosting off one of the cupcakes and stuck it in his mouth. Axel, of course, filmed the whole thing.

“You are a _mess_ ,” Roxas said at the conclusion of dinner. “Wash your face, and go get changed.” He pushed Xion into her room and closed the door, turning to sit on the couch in the living room. He watched the video of dinner that Axel had sent to their friends, laughing at how childish she seemed. He expected incoming texts, but a call popped up on his screen. He answered to see Sora, Kairi, Riku, Naminé, and Ven in their respective boxes at the bottom of the screen.

“Hey, guys,” he said, “What’s up?”

“We wanted to see how Xion is doing,” Kairi said with laughter in her voice. “She looks like she’s having trouble functioning.”

“She’s getting by,” Roxas said. “I sent her to her room to get changed.”

“You’re not helping her in her state of incapacity?” Sora asked, “What a terrible friend.” He chuckled lightly as his friends rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

“Something tells me that Axel wouldn’t be okay with that,” Roxas muttered as a blush crept across his face.

The door to Xion’s room opened and she came out into the living room. “Speak of the devil,” he said, looking back at her with a grin, seeing that she had washed up (the hair around her face was soaking wet) and changed into a simple t-shirt dress with the tag sticking out the front. She sat down with Roxas on the couch, practically collapsing on him and throwing her arms around his neck, latching on tightly like a baby monkey. She pulled her knees up and rested her head in the crook of his neck. He fought the grin that threatened to explode on his face but wrapped an arm around her.

“Xion,” Kairi said, “How are you?”

Puzzlement crossed her face, and she lifted her head. “Is Kairi here?”

“Right here,” Roxas said, holding up the phone. “Our friends wanted to talk to you.”

“About your wedding,” Ven said with a cheeky grin. Roxas gave him a flat look.

“My wedding?” Xion’s puzzlement grew. “Am I marrying someone?” Roxas chuckled and shook his head.

“You’re marrying Roxas!” Sora said, grinning just as widely as Ven.

“Really?” Xion looked at the boy holding her, and he gave her a smile. Without warning, she leaned in and met his lips with hers.

Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin and pulled away. “Whoa, Xion!” he said as his friends shrieked with laughter. “What are you doing?!”

“Kissing you,” she said simply.

“Why?” he asked with wide eyes, abandoning his phone on the couch beside him. As much as he would love to kiss his best friend, he would have preferred her in her right mind while doing so. That, and she just had mouth surgery.

“We’re getting married.”

“Xion, you can’t just kiss me like that,” he said, trying to still his beating heart.

“Get it, girl!” Kairi cried.

Roxas looked down at his phone and ended the call before turning back to Xion, watching in alarm as her features twisted with anguish. Her eyes grew wet again.

“Why not?” she whined as a tear dropped onto her cheek.

Roxas internally kicked himself as he reached up to brush the tear away with his thumb, cupping her cheek gently in his hand. “Well,” he said, “You just got your wisdom teeth taken out, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“What?” she asked, rubbing her eye. “I don’t remember that.”

“Well, you did. And…We’re not dating, so it’s not right for you to just kiss me.”

“But we’re getting married!” she sobbed. Xion buried her face in his neck, weeping pathetically.

“Xion,” Axel said, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, “I think it’s time you went to bed.”

“But Roxas isn’t dating me!” she cried.

Axel laughed and walked over to them. “He’ll date you tomorrow,” he said, struggling to extract Xion from Roxas’s arms.

“Really?” she said, letting the two boys help her to her feet.

“Of course I will,” Roxas said as a light blush played on his face.

“Oh,” she said, pushing her door open, “That’s good.”

“Yup,” Axel said, following her inside as Roxas looked in from the hall. “Just tell Sora that _I_ get to be the best man at your wedding,” he said as he pulled back Xion’s blanket. She crawled into bed, letting him put the covers back over her and planting a kiss on her forehead. “Good night. I love you.” He began to walk out of the room.

“Can Roxas give me a kiss?”

“Nope,” Axel said without looking back, gripping the boy’s shoulder as he pulled him out of the doorway. He closed the door, cutting off the cries that his disapproval had sparked.

“Oh, come on,” Roxas said with a grin, “Just one kiss?”

“I don’t think so, bud.” Axel crossed his arms and stared him down.

“You don’t want her to be sad, do you?”

Axel rolled his eyes. “Fine. You get one kiss.”

Roxas raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really—?” But Axel cut him off by clapping his hand over the boy’s mouth and kissing the back of it. Roxas shoved him away and jumped back, but couldn’t help laugh.

“There’s your kiss,” Axel said, ruffling his hair.

“Gross.” Roxas smoothed out his hair with one hand and smacked Axel’s arm with the other. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” he said, retreating into his own room to get ready for bed.

“Honestly, I’m hurt that you don’t want these lips,” Axel called from the hall.

“Shut up.”

…

Xion lay face down in her pillow, one hand clutching her phone and the other hand hanging limply off the side of the bed. The previous night’s sleep carried away the influence of the pain killers that the orthodontist gave her, leaving her mouth aching terribly, but had also carried away her memories of the previous day. Luckily, or not so luckily, her dear friends had filmed her drugged up babblings and had sent them in the group chat for everyone to see.

Xion had already watched the one from the orthodontist's office and wanted to fling herself off the clock tower for basically confessing her love for Roxas. She dreaded to know what she had said during dinner, but she had to watch; she couldn’t help herself. She lifted her head off the pillow and brought her phone to her face, clicking play on the video.

_“This looks like…red,” Xion said, swirling her spoon around her bowl of blended up pasta._

_“Be careful,” Roxas said, watching her lift her spoon and completely miss her mouth, dripping sauce onto her chin and lap. He laughed and grabbed a napkin, wiping her face gently._

Xion groaned, cringing at herself and the fate of her white skirt. But the horrors had only just begun.

_She managed to get a few spoonful’s into her mouth before Roxas asked if she liked her meal. “It’s good,” she replied with her mouth full of soup, unaware that everything had fallen out when she spoke, dripping onto her chest. He laughed again and dabbed at her shirt._

_“Easy there, Roxas,” Axel said from behind the camera._

Xion’s face turned bright red.

_“I’m just making sure it doesn’t stain,” Roxas said._

_“We’ll take care of that later.”_

_“Stain is a…word,” Xion said knowingly, picking up her spoon again and sending the contents into her lap._

_“Okay, Xion, please,” Roxas said with a grin, taking the spoon from her, “Let me help.” He took the bowl in his hands. “Open.”_

_She opened her mouth and Roxas began spoon-feeding her dinner._

Xion groaned loudly. “Why?” she asked herself, “Why must I look like an idiot in front of him?”

_“Here comes the airplane,” Roxas said in a sing-song voice as he fed her._

_“I like—” Xion began, but he shushed her and wiped away a small amount of food that had dribbled onto her chin with his thumb._

_The rest of dinner carried on rather uneventfully until dessert. Axel set the tray of cupcakes in the middle of the table and Xion immediately grabbed one, unwrapping it from its paper and nearly crushing it in the process, sending crumbs everywhere. She stuffed the cupcake in her mouth, smearing frosting all over her nose and chin. Roxas and Axel laughed again._

_“Is that good?” Roxas asked, taking the cupcake from her hands and setting it on her plate, tearing it in smaller pieces for her._

_“Yeah,” Xion said, nodding, “We can have these for our wedding.”_

_“Oh, yeah, definitely.” He grinned at the camera and threw his brows cheekily._

“Oh my gosh,” Xion muttered, her face turning even more red, if that were even possible.

_Xion managed to eat the rest of her cupcake with moderate success, but grabbed another, scraping the icing off the top with one of her fingers and setting the cupcake back down._

_“You know,” Roxas said, “I always been partial to vanilla, but chocolate is a nice default when—”_

_He could not finish his sentence because Xion grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to look at her. Without speaking, the stuck her iced finger in his mouth, slowly drawing it out as she scraped the icing off on his bottom teeth. Roxas looked at her with a mixture of shock and amusement. He turned that look on Axel, as a bit of fright mingled with his expression._

_“Uh…thanks, Xion,” he said slowly before bursting into laughter again._

Xion wanted to die. She wanted to die right there and never face Roxas after what she had just seen herself do. She buried her face in her pillow and muttered, “Kill me.” The video ended after that, much to Xion’s relief. She tapped on her text bubble and began to type.

_Xion: I would like to formally apologize for what I put Roxas through yesterday. Sorry, dude_

_Kairi: lol we all enjoyed it, don’t worry_

_Roxas <3: Don’t worry, Xion, I knew you weren’t in your right mind_

_Sora: Do you remember any of it?_

Xion was sure that if she had remembered, she would have hired a hit-man to take her out by now.

_Xion: Not a thing, so I can’t be held accountable in a court of law_

_Riku: I don’t think that’s how it works_

_Kairi: So you don’t remember…_

_Kairi: The video call…_

_Kairi: With all of us…_

_Kairi: How you…_

As Kairi sent her message one by one, panic grew in Xion’s heart. What could she possibly have done that was worse than dinner?

_Kairi: Kissed…Roxas?_

Xion’s stomach fell out from under her and her jaw hit the ground. “I DID WHAT?!” she shrieked.

_Axel: Judging by the horrified scream that just came from her room, I’m going to guess that she didn’t remember that part_

Xion grabbed her pillow from her bed and shoved her face into it, giving it some more terrified yet muffled screams. She removed the pillow when she ran out of breath and flopped onto her bed, making wordless whines as she smacked her forehead against her mattress. Before she could die of embarrassment any further, she heard a knock at her door.

“ _Go away_ ,” she said.

“Xion, it’s me,” Roxas’s voice said, “Open up, please.”

“No, I’m not dressed,” she said.

“Really, or are you just saying that?”

“Would you like to find out?” she challenged, glaring at his shadow from the crack under the door.

“Not with Axel in the other room,” he said with amusement.

“Be good, you two,” Axel called from the living room.

Xion groaned and got up, opening the door to find Roxas standing there with a half-smirk and his stupid, dumb, beautiful face.

“How’s your mouth feeling today?” he asked politely.

Xion scoffed and rolled her eyes. “It hurts. Is that all you wanted?”

Roxas chuckled. “You’re embarrassed, aren’t you?” He leaned his arm on the doorframe above his head and smiled sweetly.

“I feel like that’s the understatement of the century,” she said.

He laughed again. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed. Everyone does stupid stuff when they get their wisdom teeth out.”

Xion looked at him incredulously. “I shouldn’t be embarrassed? I went into great detail about our imaginary wedding, stuck my fingers in your mouth, and kissed you! All for our friends to see! I have every right to be embarrassed!”

She ignored Axel’s laughter from the living room in favor of watching a smirk creep across Roxas’s face. “Sound like you’ve got a thing for me, don’t you.”

Xion scoffed once more and shoved him away by the chest and retreated back into her room, collapsing into bed again in an effort to hide her mortification. Roxas remained on the other side of the threshold as Axel had forbidden them from going into each other’s rooms. With good reason, apparently. 

“Come on, Xion” he teased, “Admit it. You’ve got a crush on me.”

“I do not,” she lied.

“Do too.”

She glared at him, but he only grinned more widely.

“The only thing I’m gonna crush is your face with my fist.”

He laughed. “It’s okay, I like you, too,” he said, eyes meeting the floor.

Xion scowled and stood up, stomping over to him. “You don’t have to make fun me,” she spat, shoving him away and slamming the door in his face.

“Xion, I wasn’t—!” Roxas began, “I’m sorry if I sounded mean, but I wasn’t making fun of you, I promise!”

“Go away!” she yelled.

Roxas sighed and hung his head, stepping away from her door into the living room.

“Didja flip the wrong switch, Roxas?” Axel asked, bringing his cup of coffee up to his smirking lips.

Roxas grimaced. “Yeah, kinda.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a collection of one-shots, but this could use a part two, don't you think? ;)


	2. Fire Escapes and Prom Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xion has someone special in mind for prom, but a revelation from a friend throws a wrench in her plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little drabble. Based on that post where a girl helps her friend ask out her own crush to prom.

_Prom Night!_

_When? Saturday, May 29 th!_

_Where? Gymnasium B!_

_Why? To have fun!_

_Who? You and your date!_

Xion bubbled with excitement as she read the poster taped to the wall by the gym. She had waited for prom all year, having finally made enough friends to consider going (just in time too, since she was about to graduate). The year before had been a complete disaster when her date had dropped her as soon as they got there, leaving her for some prettier girl. But this year _wouldn’t_ be like that.

“Aren’t you so excited, Roxas?” she asked, turning to the boy next to her, whom she had befriended (and secretly fallen in love with) the night of that disastrous prom, having been adopted by him and their friend, Axel. So maybe that night hadn’t been a total bust.

He smiled. “Yeah, it should be a lot better than last year.” Roxas gave her a wink and she giggled. “Who do you want to go with?”

Xion bit back her grin. _You, dummy!_ But she didn’t say that. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, “Someone who I’m really good friends with and I know won’t leave me five seconds into the first dance.”

“That’d be ideal.”

“Who are _you_ going to ask?” She bumped her hip with his, giving him a coquettish smile. Or at least she hoped it was coquettish.

Roxas took a breath to say something, but closed his mouth again, instead giving her a smirk. “Spoilers.” He turned on his heel and began to walk down the hall, but Xion grabbed the back of his shirt.

“Oh, come on,” she said, following behind. “You gotta tell me. I’m your best friend!”

Roxas laughed and stopped long enough to sweep an arm over her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “I don’t have to tell you anything,” he said, “A man’s mind is his own.”

Xion scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

They exited the school into the parking lot, and Xion tried not to feel disappointed when Roxas removed his arm from her shoulders. She slipped her bag off her back and rummaged for her car keys as Roxas did the same.

“You coming over today?” he asked, spinning his keys around his finger.

“No,” Xion said, feeling even more disappointed, “I’m studying with Olette after school. She said she had snacks this time.”

“Snacks, eh? I might have to crash your party.” Roxas gave her a dazzlingly gorgeous smile, and she laughed.

“If _you_ show up,” she said, booping his nose, and making him blink, “Then we won’t get _any_ studying done.”

“Small price to pay for snacks,” he said, raising one eyebrow.

Xion laughed and punched him lightly on the arm. “Get outta here. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya,” he said, giving her a tight hug that she wished had lasted longer before he went to his own car. She sighed and walked to her own, wishing she had the courage to ask him out instead of trying to drop hints.

Roxas glanced back at Xion as she made her way to her car, feeling positively giddy at the sight of her. If everything went according to plan, he would soon have himself a date to prom.

He walked to his car, finding his twin brother, Sora, and his best friend, Axel, already waiting there. Sora was immersed in a call with his girlfriend, Kairi and Axel was texting on his phone. He looked up and smiled as Roxas approached.

“Sup, nerd,” he said, slipping his phone into his pocket.

“Sup.” Roxas unlocked the car and they all got in, whining as they entered the hot interior, warmed by the island sun, and acting as if this wasn’t a daily occurrence. Roxas quickly turned on the AC, but hot air came through the vents. “Ugh, it’s too hot on this island!” he said, shutting off the air.

“Just roll down the windows,” Axel said, grimacing as they tried to get a cross breeze going. Roxas pulled out of the parking lot, letting the air rushing past cool his face.

“So, did you ask her?” Axel said, sticking his hand out the window as his fingers played on the wind.

“No, I told you I have a big, special evening planned, remember?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t listening when you talking then.”

“ _Oh my gosh_ ,” Roxas rolled his eyes, “Okay, I’m gonna invite her over to my place, just the two of us, and I’m going to have a special dinner prepared for her, and were gonna talk and laugh and have a great time, and then, I’m going to take her into the living room where there’s going to be a big banner that says ‘Xion, will you go to prom with me?’ and then she’ll say yes, and we’ll all live happily ever after, or something like that.”

“I like it,” Axel said with a nod, “But I think there should be some kissing involved.” He smirked.

Roxas laughed. “Well, maybe if she wants to…”

“I’ll let you keep that between the two of you, though.” Axel shot finger guns his way.

...

“I swear Mr. Leonheart is the worst!” Olette said, circling something in her notes. “He gives us so much homework.”

“I know,” Xion groaned, “It’s gonna take us forever to get through this.”

“You know what?” Olette dropped her pencil on the kitchen table, “I’ve had enough of this for now.” She stood up and walked to counter, grabbing a bowl of chips.

“Agreed,” Xion said, following Olette’s lead and rummaging through her refrigerator for a couple cans of soda. She handed one to her friend and said, “Let’s go out there.” Xion gestured to the fire escape outside the kitchen window. “I need some fresh air.”

The two girls sat outside on the metal stairs, looking out at the street in front of Xion’s apartment building. Her eyes drifted to the complex diagonally across from hers where Roxas lived. She smiled to herself, thinking of the times they had each snuck out at night to chill, hanging out on their fire escapes like she and Olette were doing right then.

“Xion, I need your help with something.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking to her friend.

Olette laughed and shook her head. “No, nothing’s wrong. I need help asking a guy out to prom.”

Xion gasped, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Oh my gosh, yes, of course! I would love to! Who is it?” She sat with bated breath as Olette chewed her lip.

“It’s…Roxas.”

The smile fell from Xion’s face as her jaw hit the ground. Olette waited for her response, but Xion just stared.

“Roxas?” she finally asked, praying that she had heard wrong.

“I know, he’s way out of my league,” Olette said, letting her head fall into her hands.

“No! _No, no, no, no, no_! That’s not what I meant!” she quickly said, “I just…didn’t know you liked him.”

Olette scoffed. “Everyone likes Roxas. I mean, have you seen him? He’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah…” Xion frowned at the ground below her.

“So what do I do?” Olette asked.

“Well…” Xion didn’t know what to say. She was too close to Olette to fight her for a boy, but she was too close to Roxas to give him up to someone else.

“What would you do?” Olette looked at Xion with a pensive expression. “You’re his good friend, so you know what he likes.”

“I don’t know.” Xion had always pictured him asking her out, so she had to scramble for a reversed scenario. “You could be direct to the point and just ask him, but if you wanted to go the whole ‘promposal’ route, he would want something small. Anything too big would embarrass him. Maybe a balloon bouquet or you could decorate his car?” Xion shrugged. “It’s up to you.”

Olette nodded and began brainstorming other ideas as Xion tried to keep herself from spiraling into madness. By the time Olette left, Xion wanted to cry, wishing she hadn’t agreed so quickly to help her friend. She went into her room and face planted into her pillow with a groan.

-Two weeks later-

“What if she says no?” Roxas asked with fear in his eyes as his friends dragged him through the halls.

“Why would she say no?” Axel asked, “You guys hang out all the time.”

“I don’t see why you’re nervous,” Sora said, “It’s not like you’re gonna pop the question right now.”

Roxas snorted. “And _you_ weren’t nervous to ask Kairi for a pencil in the sixth grade?”

“That was _different_ ,” Sora said with a pout, “I was twelve, not eighteen.” Riku laughed.

“Don’t worry,” Strelitzia said, hanging off of Ven’s arm, “Xion is going to be so happy; she’s totally into you.”

“I hope you’re right,” Roxas said as they came to the doors leading to the parking lot.

Kairi laughed. “Anyone with eyes can see it, Roxas.”

The group of friends went outside, and Roxas made a beeline for Xion’s car, hoping to find her there after not seeing when school ended, but she intercepted him.

“Xion,” he said, eyes growing wide. His mouth went dry and he began to sweat.

“When you see your car,” she said with a grin, “It’s not my fault; I didn’t do it.”

“Do what? What happened to my car?” Roxas forgot his plans to ask Xion over and ran to his car, hearing his friends’ laughter as they followed behind. He prepared himself for the worst, beginning to look for any damage on the car’s body, but saw none. Instead, he saw balloons filling the interior to the ceiling and white paint spelling “PROM?” on the windows.

He turned to Xion. “You didn’t do this?” he asked. The negative shake of her head sent of flood of disappointment through him.

“Nope,” she said, no longer smiling.

“Then who—?”

“It was me,” Olette said, stepping out from her hiding place behind another car. “Do you want to go?” She gave a hopeful smile. “It’ll be fun.”

Roxas’s friends held their breath, waiting for his answer, but he didn’t know what to say. ‘No’? He didn’t want to hurt Olette’s feelings. He looked to Xion, who gave him a double thumbs up and a wide grin.

_Oh. So she doesn’t feel the same about me._

He sucked in a breath. “I would love to, Olette,” Roxas said with a forced smile.

...

“Dad, you are not going to believe the CRAP day I had at school!” Xion cried, bursting through her front door.

“Let me guess,” Xemnas said, thumbing through his newspaper, “Roxas said yes to Olette.”

“He said yes!” Xion threw her bag onto the ground and stormed into the kitchen. “How could he do that?! He was my only chance at a prom date!”

Xemnas sighed and closed his eyes. “Please, Kingdom Hearts,” he whispered, “A father can’t take two years in a row.”

“I heard that!” Xion growled, opening the fridge, and looking for anything sugary.

“Just promise me you won’t mope too much this time.”

“I will not promise anything.” Xion pulled out a can of frosting, whipped cream, leftover apple pie from dinner the night before, and a tub of ice cream. She set her snacks on the table with a sigh. “I’m a senior, dad. I just wanted one prom, just one! Is that too much to ask?” She grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer and turned on him. “This is your fault for not letting me go the first two years!”

“As your father,” Xemnas said, looking back to his paper, “It is my duty to protect you from creeps. I didn’t want you dating too young.”

“Well,” Xion said, ripping the lid off the ice cream and stabbing her spoon into it, “You raised a social outcast, so I hope you’re happy.”

“Immensely.”

...

Roxas lay face down on his bed. “Why does the universe hate me?” he asked.

“I know, right?” Sora said, staring at his brother as he sat on his own bed, back against the wall. “It’s like you’re its personal punching bag.” Roxas said nothing so Sora continued, “Or it could be _your_ fault for not asking her sooner.”

Roxas turned his head to glare at him, but Sora remained unfazed. “ _You’re not helping_.”

Sora shrugged. “I’m just sayin’. I asked Kairi as soon as the posters started going up.”

“She’s your _girlfriend_. She was going to go with you anyway.” Roxas groaned and pressed his face back into his pillow. “I guess it’s only one night,” he said, his voice muffled slightly, “If Olette tries to ask me out again, I’ll just friend-zone her.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sora said, laying down and picking up his phone, apparently done with the conversation. But Roxas wasn’t done.

“It’s just…Xion seemed so…supportive. Like she really wanted me to go with Olette,” he said, flipping onto his back. “This whole time I thought that maybe she kinda liked me. Was I just seeing what I wanted to see?”

Sora sighed. “I always thought she had a huge crush on you, but maybe that’s just her way of being friendly. I don’t know. Once this is all over, you should ask her out. If she says yes, then we’re good!”

“And if she says no?”

“Well…” Sora trailed off but then gave Roxas a grin. “She’ll say yes. I know it.”

“I hope you’re right,” Roxas muttered.

-The night before prom-

Xion sat on her fire escape, looking at the dark street below without really seeing it, resting her chin on her fist. Tomorrow was prom, and she didn’t have a date. She sighed, blinking back the excess moisture forming in her eyes. She couldn’t cry. Not this year too. She took a composing breath upon hearing the sound of footsteps coming up the fire escape. Most people entered their apartments through the front door, so this could only be one person.

Roxas stepped up onto the landing below her, sinking to the floor, as he always did, looking up at her where she sat on the steps, where she always did. She plastered a smile on her face, belying the tears that were threatening to spill. He returned her smile softly.

“Evening, ma’am,” he said quietly, so as to not disturb the sleeping night.

“How did you know I was going to be here?” she asked just as quietly so her voice wouldn’t break.

“You always sit out here when you’re upset,” he said simply.

“I’m not upset,” she lied with a frown.

Roxas shrugged. “Prom’s tomorrow and you don’t have a date.”

“So what?” Xion furrowed her brows at him. “Not having a date to prom isn’t the end of the world.”

“I know, I know,” he said with a wave of his hand, “It’s just that, after what happened last year, and how excited you were to go this year…I mean, you should still go, but it sucks not having a date.”

Xion nodded, looking at her feet. “Yeah, it does,” she muttered.

Roxas stood and sat next to her on the steps, putting an arm around her.

“I mean, it’s really not a big deal, and I shouldn’t be upset about it,” Xion said, her voice breaking on the last word, “It just sucks.” She ended in a whisper, covering her face with her hands.

Roxas put his other arm around her and hugged her close. “It’s okay to be upset,” he murmured. “It may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of life, but it’s a big deal right now. It matters, and so do you. So cry if you need to, Xion. I’m right here.”

Xion let out a few sniffles and wrapped her arms around his middle, pressing her eyes into the crook of his neck as she sobbed quietly. Roxas rubbed her back, pulling her into his lap and rocking her gently, feeling his own heart break a little.

“You know,” he said once her cries had quieted, though he did not remove her from his lap, “This reminds me of when we first met at prom last year.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Xion said, rubbing her eyes, “That was so embarrassing.”

Roxas chuckled. “I didn’t even know you or that guy, but I wanted to find him and punch him in the face just for making you cry.”

Xion laughed softly. “It’s the thought that counts.”

“No,” he insisted with a shake of his head, “I should have stormed onto the dance floor and really given him a piece of my mind! I should’ve…should’ve challenged him to a dance battle!” Xion laughed. “I would’ve destroyed him with my sick moves!”

“Oh, I’m sure you would have,” she giggled.

“Definitely!” Roxas grinned. “I would’ve hit him with some pliés and flambés.” Xion laughed again. “Throw in some pirouettes like all the cool kids do.”

“Oh, yeah, all the cool kids _definitely_ do that.”

“And then,” he continued, “I would’ve grabbed you and dip-kissed you in front of everyone.”

Xion’s cheeks went red. “ _What_?” she said, her head snapping up to look at him.

“Just to show him what he’s missing!” Roxas said quickly, his face turning equally red. “I didn’t mean it like—I—I was just kidding.” He laughed nervously, and Xion joined in softly, placing her head back on his shoulder.

“Don’t lie,” she said with a grin, “I know you want these lips.”

“Well, they do seem pretty great,” he chuckled.

Xion sighed. “It’s a shame no one else wants them. Then maybe I’d have gotten a date.” She frowned and her eyes grew wet again.

“Don’t say stuff like that,” Roxas said, giving her a squeeze. “You don’t need to have a date to prom to know that you’re totally awesome. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Xion felt her heart grow a little lighter. “Do you mean that?”

“Yes, I do.” Roxas gently pulled her away by the shoulders just enough so he could look her in the eye. “I’ll always be there for you, Xion,” he said, “I want you to know that.”

She gave him a watery smile. “I know.”

-Prom Night-

Roxas adjusted his bright pink necktie and frowned into the bathroom mirror. Xion would’ve chosen a blue color for their prom attire.

“How do I look?” Sora asked, edging Roxas out of the way.

“Fine,” he said flatly.

“Just fine?” Sora asked with a pout, but he smiled at Roxas. “I think you look rather dashing.”

“Thanks.” He didn’t say anything else, making Sora pout some more.

“Chin up,” he said, nudging Roxas’s elbow, “Otherwise this night is going to drag on and on.”

Roxas sighed. “Right,” he muttered.

Sora rolled his eyes and pulled his brother out of their apartment. After a brief scuffle over who got to drive (Sora emerging victorious), they sped out of the parking lot and down the street. Roxas glanced up at Xion’s building when they passed, seeing her step out of her window onto the fire escape. He sighed again, hoping she wouldn’t be there all night and knowing she would be.

Roxas was hardly mentally present when He, Olette, Sora, and Kairi were at dinner together, making enough conversation to be polite but letting Sora do most of the talking as he thought about the girl he left behind. He gratefully accepted his plate of food as a means to put off conversation even further when it arrived.

“Mmm, I love shrimp,” Olette said, stabbing her fork into her meal.

“Be careful with seafood, Olette,” Sora said, “You don’t want to get food poisoning.”

Olette laughed. “Getting food poisoning on prom night would probably be the worst thing that could possibly happen.”

_At least you had a chance to go_ , Roxas thought as his lips pulled down at the corners. _Unlike Xion._

...

“If you need me,” Xion called to her father as she hefted her computer, an armful of snacks, and a few pillows and blankets out the window, “I’ll be crying all night long on the fire escape.”

“Why don’t we have you held back a year so we can go for round three?” Xemnas asked, book and mug of coffee in hands as he settled into a kitchen chair with a view out the window, prepared to rush to his daughter’s aide if he saw her on the wrong side of the railing.

“Don’t patronize me,” she said flatly and slid the window shut.

Xion settled her pillows and blankets on the floor and set up her laptop in front of her as she tried to keep her snacks from falling through the fire escape floor. After scrolling through Netflix for an eternity, she decided to watch _The Notebook_. If she was going to cry, she might as well give herself a good reason after all.

Xion watched the movie all the way through to the end, and of course she cried. If she had been a bit more stable-minded, she probably wouldn’t have, but she wasn’t, so she did. She shut her laptop and wrapped her blanket around herself, quietly weeping into it and hoping nobody caught her in her sorry state.

A girl crying because she’s alone on prom night? How pathetic. And she wouldn’t even be able to argue against it because that’s what she was: pathetic. Too pathetic to get a date to prom, too pathetic to even _keep_ her own prom date, and too pathetic to even tell her best friend that she liked him. Let Olette have Roxas. Xion didn’t deserve him.

She continued to wallow in her tears, not even noticing someone walking up the fire escape.

“Hey.”

Xion jumped and gasped softly, finding Roxas standing on the stairs in front of her. He must have just come from prom, still wearing his suit, but had untied his tie, leaving it hanging across his neck, and had unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt. He also had two ice cream pops in his hands.

“Roxas, what are you doing here?” she asked with furrowed brows, “Why aren’t you at prom?”

“Olette got food poisoning,” he said, sitting on the blanket with her and handing her an ice cream, “So I took her home. I thought I’d come hang out with you.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Xion said taking a bite of ice cream as she dried her tears with the heel of her hand.

“Don’t be,” Roxas said with a shrug, “I’d rather hang out with you anyway.” He reclined against the pillows and started on his ice cream.

“But it still sucks to have your prom night ruined,” Xion said, “Believe me, I would know.”

“Eh, it was doomed from the start,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Why’s that?”

“Because…I wanted to go with you.” Roxas stared at his ice cream, not meeting her eyes.

Xion gaped at him, her jaw falling as it had when Olette told her she wanted to ask Roxas out.

“I’m sorry, _what_?” she demanded.

Roxas gave a little smile, finally looking at her. “I wanted to go with you because…I think you’re really sweet and cute, and I like you a lot,” he said softly.

Xion had imagined this kind of scenario over and over in her head, but she had never imagined the overwhelming feeling of irritation.

“Why didn’t you ask me, then?!” she cried.

“Well, I was going to,” he said, shrinking under her wrath.

“Why didn’t you?!”

“I was afraid you’d say no.” Roxas ran a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t sure if you liked me like that.”

“Are you BLIND?!” Xion screamed. “I’ve had a crush on you since the day we met!”

“Okay, chill out,” Roxas said, holding his hands in front of him. “Geez Louise, Xion. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve had a crush on you since we met, too.”

Xion groaned and lay back on the floor, pressing her face into her hands. “That actually makes me feel worse, you idiot.”

“You know, I kind of imagined this going differently in my head,” he said with a frown.

“Well, so did I!” Xion sighed heavily. “We could’ve been dating this _whole_ time!”

Roxas cracked a smile and looked down at her. “So…you want to date?” he asked, scooting close to her side and planting his hand on the floor on the other side of her. “’Cause I think I’d like that.” His smile grew and he took a cheeky bite of ice cream, but Xion pouted.

“Don’t get cute with me,” she spat, pushing him away by the chest as she sat back up. Roxas caught her hand and kept it there.

“I thought we just established that I can _only_ be cute with you,” he said with a raised eyebrow. He put an arm around her and pulled her close to him. Though it was the same action as the night before, it felt different, more intimate. Xion grumbled but didn’t push him away. “Are you free tomorrow?”

“Are you seriously asking me out?” Xion said in disbelief, but she could not keep a smile from exploding on her face.

“Of course I am,” he said, kissing her temple, sending her heart into a frenzy. “How about dinner and a movie? I promise I won’t take you to the same place that gave Olette food poisoning.”

Just as quickly as it had soared, Xion’s heart fell. “Olette…What are we going to tell her? I think she really likes you.”

“I know,” Roxas said. “I’ll talk to her; let her down easy.”

Xion nodded. “Alright. Dinner sounds wonderful.”

They smiled at each other, and Roxas’s gaze flickered to Xion’s lips. “Can I kiss you?” he asked with a grin.

She laughed at his forwardness. “Um, sure. If you want.”

Roxas leaned down and met Xion’s lips with his, tasting the salt of the ice cream and her forgotten tears.

Xemnas watched the kiss from the other side of the window and shook his head with amusement. “Here comes Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee and turning back to his book. “Just like last year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a fic similar to this where Roxas and Xion want to go to prom with each other but can't, and I will most likely have another prom fic in the future. I had a terrible prom experience and it kinda ruined the trope for me, so I'm writing this as a way to cope, I guess.


	3. Nobodies at a Nightclub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Canon divergence where Xion and Roxas separately flee the organization and meet again years later at Roxas's place of work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted at midnight. I'll final proofread it tomorrow. Also, I like how these are supposed to be cute and fluffy, but i go from zero to depression in 3.5 seconds. Yeah this one doesn't really fit with the rest of them, but I didn't want to make it a stand-alone.

Roxas slid a drink across the bar and accepted the munny the buzzed patron handed him, putting it in the register under the counter before turning to the next stumbling customer, largely ignoring most of the crowd trying to get his attention. He made drink after drink, as he did every night, wondering how his life had come to this.

After Xion went missing, he left the organization, wandering the worlds, and trying to find any meaning to any of this. It wasn’t as if he was unhappy; he was simply incapable of the feeling. Happiness, sadness, jealousy, rage—he felt none, and that was okay. At least he told himself it was okay on the days he was able to drag himself out of bed.

What was that called again? That meant you were past feeling? The Somebodies had a word for it.

So, six years later, he found himself working in a random nightclub on a random world as a bartender. He had forgotten how he learned the trade, his days blending together in a meaningless mass, but he was good at it, so he stuck with it.

“What can I get for you?” he asked a girl, tossing her a smile that had no feeling behind it.

“Whiskey neat,” she said, glancing down at his colorful arms. “I like your tattoos.”

“Thanks,” he said, getting to work on her order.

“What do they mean?”

“Nothing. I just thought they looked cool.”

The ink riddled across Roxas’s skin truly didn’t have any meaning. When he got his first one just for the heck of it, he liked how the needle felt against his skin. It didn’t feel good, and actually hurt a lot. But it felt like something. He liked the feeling of something. If his mind couldn’t feel, then he would let his body. The sting of tattoos, the kisses of random women that he didn’t care about, the bass of the music when he didn’t really get music to begin with, the sensation of spiciness from a grandmother’s best recipe. All the things that should have meant something but didn’t.

He worked until the end of shift but decided to hang around for a little longer, faking smiles at his coworkers as he changed in the locker room. He could fake a smile as well as any sociopath. Actually, that wasn’t fair to sociopaths.

He sat in a chair on the second floor balcony, looking passively down at the party-goers stumbling on the dancefloor. He often thought about joining them, able to fake a dance as well as a smile, but he didn’t. He just watched.

He watched a blonde in a bright red dress spill her drink on her friend. He watched a man with green hair attempt to chat up a woman who was clearly out of league. He watched a black haired girl scan the crowd at her place from the edge of the dancefloor. Roxas did a double take at the girl and nearly fell out of his chair. Was that…? It couldn’t be.

“Xion?” he whispered.

Roxas stood abruptly from his chair, startling the people nearby, and tore down the stairs of the club, running through the crowd while avoiding collision with anyone as he raced for his long-lost friend. She turned away from the dancefloor and headed for the front door, and panic rose in Roxas’s chest.

“Xion!” he cried.

She stopped and turned around, finding Roxas’s eyes with hers, her face splitting into a beaming smile. She ran to him and, upon meeting, they threw their arms around each other, locked in a tight embrace.

“What are you doing here?” Roxas asked with delight, his wide smile tugging at his chapped lips, but he ignored the discomfort, feeling Xion laugh into his chest. He remembered being the same height as her all those years ago.

“What are _you_ doing here?” she asked, looking up at him with the prettiest smile he’d ever seen.

“I work here,” he laughed, “Come on, let’s catch up. I’ll buy you a drink.”

Roxas and Xion sat on a couch in the corner of the club, laughing and talking about where they had been. After leaving the organization, Xion had done what Roxas had, going from world to world as she fended off the Nobodies trying to bring her back until, one day, they stopped coming after her.

“I’ve been staying at the old mansion in Twilight Town for the past two years,” she said, “Trying to lay low in case anyone was out looking for me, but I had to clear out when DiZ came back.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” Roxas said with a small frown. “It’s really sad to think about. I mean,” he shrugged, “Not that we can be sad anyway.”

Xion laughed. “You don’t still believe what Xemnas told us, do you?”

“That we don’t have hearts?” he asked. She nodded. “Well…” He paused, his frown deepening. “I haven’t really felt anything these past six years.”

Xion opened her mouth to speak, but cocked her head, giving him a curious look. “You haven’t…felt anything? What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t really feel happy, and I don’t really feel sad ever. I don’t know.” He furrowed his brows, staring at the drink in his hand. “I feel like I’m just going through the motions, but there’s not any meaning to anything ‘cause I can’t feel that meaning. I read somewhere that it’s called...” He paused in thought, “…depression. For the Somebodies, anyway. I don’t think I can use that word for a Nobody though.” Roxas looked back at Xion, seeing her wide eyes. “What?”

She said nothing but put her arms around him, taking him by surprise. “Uh, Xion, it’s really not a big deal—”

“For six years?” she whispered in his ear. “You been depressed for six years?”

He chuckled lightly, putting his arms around her. “I’m fine,” he insisted, smiling into her hair.

Xion pulled away, frowning at him. “I don’t think you understand.” She said. “You are _not_ fine! And I would know because I’ve been depressed this whole time too!”

That pulled Roxas up short. For some reason, Xion’s depression bothered him much more than his own.

“People are _supposed_ to feel emotions, Roxas.”

“Well, we’re not people, remember?” he said, “We’re Nobodies, and Nobodies aren’t supposed to feel anything.”

“Well, you seemed pretty happy to see me earlier,” she said, crossing her arms. “And all those times on the clock tower—were you just faking that? ‘Cause I don’t think you were.”

Roxas had no answer. He never faked anything with Xion.

“And if Nobodies aren’t supposed to feel anything,” she continued, “Then why did I cry myself to sleep every night ‘cause I thought I’d never see you again?” He felt a stabbing pain where his heart should have been. “Why did I nearly start crying tears of joy when I heard you call my name earlier?” She stood up, glaring down at him. “If I don’t have a heart, how could I possibly have fallen in love with you?!”

Roxas stared at her, slack-jawed. “Love?” he said in a small voice.

Shock replaced anger on Xion’s face and her gaze met the floor. “Um…I have to go.” She turned to flee, but Roxas stood from the couch and caught her hand.

“Don’t you _dare_ go anywhere,” he said. He waited for her to turn to face him again, but she didn’t. “I don’t entirely get ‘love,’" he continued, "But from what I do know about it, I know it’s pretty special. So you can’t just say it and run away.”

“I’m sorry.” She finally faced him, but didn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t really get love either, and…” She laughed once without humor. “I thought I convinced myself that I was over you. But, apparently, I was wrong.”

“Xion…” Roxas whispered. He cupped her face in his hand, tilting it up to look her in the eye. “If you loved me this whole time, why did you leave me? I could’ve helped you. We could have run together.”

“I didn’t want you getting hurt,” she said, placing her hands on his waist. “You’re the most important thing in the world to me. Anyone I get close to gets hurt in one way or another.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “If you got hurt…I don’t know what I would do.” A single teardrop fell down her cheek.

Roxas brought his other hand to her face, wiping the tear away with his thumb. “Why are you crying?” he whispered, leaning down closer to her. His eyes flickered to her lips.

“Because I…” She looked down at his. “I don’t know.”

He smiled softly. “Don’t be sad. I’m right here.” He leaned close to her and gently pressed his lips to hers, sending a delirious rush of…something…swirling in his mind. He still didn't know if he could believe that Nobodies had emotions, but whatever this feeling was, he wanted to hold onto it and never let go. He wanted to never let Xion go. What they had was special. He released her lips when a realization dawned on him.

“Axel said that love was something special between two people,” he said slowly.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“And…what we have is special.”

She smiled. “Yes, it is.”

“Does that mean,” he asked, heat flooding his face, “That we…love each other?”

Xion laughed. “I think so.” She pulled away and grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s go dance.

Roxas mutely followed Xion onto the dance floor, letting her twist him into different dancing positions. He let himself loosen up, feeling the beat of the music pulse through his feet and into his body, watching her move to the rhythm in hypnotic movements. She was intoxicating. Or maybe he’d had one too many drinks. Whatever the case, as he watched her, he began to understand why Somebodies liked music so much. They could feel the emotion pouring into every note, every lyric. Was Demyx right? Could Nobodies have hearts?

No. That was just ridiculous.


	4. The Chocobo Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas and Xion won't admit their feelings for each other, but will that change after Vanitas suggests a taboo party game?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is a little cringy XD but I think we all enjoy cringe sometimes

“Hey, Axel, are you coming to the game night?” Roxas asked as they walked through the halls together at the end of the school day.

“Are you kidding?” Axel grinned, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” He emphasized his statement with a grand, sweeping arm motion, and Roxas chuckled. “I know how crazy your parties can get.”

“It’s not a party,” Sora said, who heard them having been standing nearby, talking to Riku. “It’s a _game night_.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Mom and dad are okay with game nights,” Roxas said, and Sora nodded in agreement. “But not with parties.”

“What, do they think we’re gonna go nuts and get blackout drunk?” Axel said with a raised eyebrow. “Those are the kind of parties _I_ like to throw.”

Roxas scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, if you ever actually threw a party.” He gave Axel a nudge with his elbow.

“Those are the kind of parties our cousin likes to throw,” Sora said, and he brightened. “Oh, that reminds me, Ven and Van are coming, too.”

Riku groaned. “Vanitas is going to be there?” he whined. “I hate that guy.”

“Oh, come on,” Sora said, “He’s not all bad.”

“He got arrested again last week,” Roxas said with a grin.

“That was totally not his fault! Kairi!” Sora called to the small group of girls, Kairi, Xion, and Naminé, walking up the hall, “Back me up on this! Vanitas is a good guy, right?”

She grimaced slightly and cocked her head, coming to a stop in front of the boys. “If you think so.”

“See?” Roxas gave Sora a smug look, “Even she thinks he’s a douche.”

“Roxas,” Xion said with a giggle, giving his arm a light swat, “Don’t be mean.”

“It’s true!” They shared a laugh before he turned back to his friends. “So are you guys coming to the party tonight?” he continued.

“He means ‘game night,’” Axel corrected, with a finger in the air.

“We’d absolutely love to come,” Xion said, clasping her hands in front of her.

“Well I knew _you_ were going to be there,” Roxas said with a roll of his eyes, “Obviously my best friend can’t skip out.”

“Aww,” she giggled, giving him a warm smile, “You’re my best friend, too.”

“Yeah,” Kairi said, ignoring their tender moment, “We’ll be there.”

“Great!” Sora said with a grin, “We gotta run home and get everything ready, but we’ll see you tonight.” They said goodbye to the girls, and Sora rushed off with Riku to get a textbook out of his locker, leaving Roxas and Axel alone. They began walking to the front doors of the school.

“So when are you going to ask Xion out?” Axel said casually.

“ _What_?” Roxas snapped his head up to look at him.

“When are you going to ask Xion out,” he repeated patiently. “I know you like her and she likes you, too.”

“Wha-? She does _not_ like me!” Roxas gave him a scowl, but Axel only scoffed. “What makes you say _that_?” he continued.

“Anyone with eyes can see it,” Axel said, giving him a ‘duh’ look. “The whole school knows.” Roxas’s jaw fell and his cheeks grew warm.

He was definitely attracted to Xion, but he’d only ever spoken of it to Sora in the wee hours of the night when both of them should’ve been sleeping. He never told Axel for fear that the information might slip, but, apparently, he did a poor job of hiding his feelings.

“She’s in the giggly phase,” Axel continued.

“‘The giggly phase’?” Roxas asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Axel nodded once, “The giggly phase, when everything you do is cute and funny to her, but it’s really annoying to everyone else. Remember before Aqua and Terra started dating? She’d laugh at all of his jokes even though they were terrible. Now she doesn’t even care. So, just so you’re aware,” he laid a hand on Roxas’s shoulder, “When you and Xion start dating, she’ll stop laughing at your jokes.”

“I like to think that I’m funnier than Terra,” Roxas said, noting that Axel had said “when” and not “if.”

“It’s not hard to be funnier than Terra.”

Sora and Riku then caught up to them, and they all went out to the parking lot, seeing the girls once again and waving goodbye.

“See ya later, Xion,” Roxas called, “Don’t forget to bring your special cupcakes!”

“I won’t,” she said with a laugh, getting into Naminé’s car, forced to the back seat after Kairi called shotgun.

“So when do you think he’s going to ask you out?” she said, turning her head to look at Xion.

She sighed. “I don’t know,” she said, clicking her seatbelt into place. “I feel like sometimes he’s flirting with me, but maybe that’s just how he talks to girls, so I don’t know if he actually likes me.”

“He doesn’t talk to me or Kairi like that,” Naminé said, looking back to reverse out of the parking space. “Or anyone else for that matter.”

“He likes you,” Kairi stated, “I mean it’s _so_ obvious. He’s always super sweet to you and tries to be funny. I told him a joke the other day and he barely even laughed. And it was a _good_ joke, too!” She scoffed indignantly. “You should talk to him tonight.”

“ _Tonight_?” Xion blanched and shook her head. “No way. That’s too soon.”

Kairi whipped around in her seat to frown at her. “It’s never gonna happen if you just do _nothing_!”

“I know, I know!” Xion said quickly, “But what if there’s a prettier girl at the party, and they go off and make-out somewhere?”

“Why on earth would that happen?” Kairi said, throwing her hands up incredulously.

“I’m just saying, what if it does?!”

“Then wear something to get his attention tonight.”

“‘Wear something to get his attention’?” Xion shook her head. “What does that even _mean_?”

“Boobs,” Kairi said flatly.

“ _Kairi_!” Naminé laughed.

Xion scoffed and covered her chest with her hands. “You know I’m self-conscious,” she said with a frown.

“You don’t have to show a lot of cleavage, Xion,” Naminé said, turning onto her street. “Roxas is already in love with you.”

“If you say so,” she sighed, staring out the window longingly.

“I promise you. And I think you should talk to him tonight, too.”

“Hmm.” Xion paused with a frown. “Okay, fine, I’ll tell him that I like him.” She was only partly bluffing, trying to trick herself into believing she had that kind of confidence.

“ _Yass, queen_!” Kairi shouted. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

Xion smirked. “But only if _you_ tell Sora you like him.”

“I-you-that-We’re talking about _you_ not _me_!” she spluttered. Xion and Naminé laughed. “And don’t worry about picking out an outfit to wear for Roxas,” she said, “I’ll take care of that.”

Xion grimaced slightly. “Okay,” she said, “Now I’m scared.”

“Don’t be.” Kairi flipped her hair. “Just trust me; I’m a master of seduction.” Xion rolled her eyes. “When I’m through with you, Roxas won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.” She sent a wink back to her friend, chuckling at the look on her face.

Guests arrived to the game night in small groups, greeted by Sora and Roxas’ parents by the door, just so they knew there’d be adult super vision. Lightning and her gang showed up first, followed by Ven and Vanitas with Terra and Aqua in tow. Selfie and her friends came soon after Isa and his gang showed up, as well as many other school friends. But as the clocked ticked on and the girls hadn’t shown up, Roxas was a bit on edge.

“Do you think she’s coming?” he whispered to Axel, who gorged himself at the snack table.

“She’d better,” he said around a mouthful of chips. “She’s bringing the cupcakes.” He swallowed and smirked, swallowing his food. “Why? You gonna make your move tonight?”

“Shut up,” Roxas hissed, punching his arm. Axel laughed.

“Chill,” he said, pointing at the front door. “Here they come now.”

Kairi and Naminé walked in with Xion following close behind, and when she removed her jacket to hang by the door, Roxas went slack-jawed at the sight of her. She wore a cute, black dress that showed just a bit of cleavage, sparkly high heels, and, be still his beating heart, red lipstick. She was also holding a plate with foil over it, the cupcakes. He barely registered that she had waved at him, hoping he lifted his hand in time to not look awkward. His feet moved of their own accord, and he met her halfway through the living room with a hug, ignoring the game of “Mafia” they were standing in the middle of.

“You made it!” he said with a grin, “I was worried when you didn’t show up.” She giggled, reminding Roxas of his earlier conversation with Axel.

“Of course I showed up.” Before she could say anything else, the “Mafia” players descended on her cupcakes like ravenous wolves.

“Hey, save one of those for Axel,” Roxas ordered.

“You snooze, you lose, Axel!” Ven called, sending the boy rushing into the room to claim his cupcake. Roxas also managed to snatch one before they were all gone. He sat down on the couch next to Tifa, pulling Xion into his side to make room for the others. They played a few rounds, but Roxas wasn’t really paying attention, too focused on the girl pressed against his hip.

He had to do it tonight. If he didn’t reveal his feelings for her now, he didn’t think he ever would. But what would be the right time? He could ask to speak to her privately and take her outside where only a few people milled about. If she reciprocated his feelings, they could maybe have their first kiss. If she didn’t…well, no one would be around to witness his mortification. He gathered his resolve at the end of the final round of “Mafia,” turning to Xion to ask her outside, but Sora cut him off.

“Hey, let’s have a _Smash Bros_ tournament!” he said excitedly. Everyone, including Xion, agreed, and Roxas found himself being ushered downstairs into the basement where the game systems were. He sighed to himself in disappointment, following the group of about fifteen people. They lounged on the plush, old couches in front of the TV, waiting for Sora to set up the game.

“Hey, Roxas,” he said, “Could you give me a hand with this? I can’t find where the plugs go.”

He edged off the couch and kneeled next to Sora, looking through the plugs and trying to figure out what went where. He bit back a curse.

“We’re missing a cord,” he said with a frown.

“Bummer,” Vanitas intoned, lounging sideways on a recliner, and tossing a little plush chocobo toy in the air to catch.

“Are you kidding me?” Sora said. “Wait, we loaned our system to Cloud. Does he still have the cord?” All eyes turned to him, but he held up his hands defensively.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Cloud said, “I gave everything back to you.”

Vanitas clicked his tongue. “You must have just misplaced it.” He continued tossing the chocobo in the air, but stopped when he realized what he was holding. He smirked and stood up in the center of the room.

“I know what we can play,” he said, holding aloft the stuffed toy for all to see.

Ven gave him a disapproving look. “Van, _no_. Mom and dad are gonna kill us if they find out.”

“You mean ' _if_ they find out.'” Vantias’s smirk grew, but Ven rolled his eyes.

“Wait,” Axel said, “What are we playing?” Vanitas turned to him and tossed Axel the toy.

“We’re playing the ‘Chocobo Game.’”

Roxas laughed and shook his head. “Vanitas, you absolute man-slut.” He only shrugged in response to the slight.

“What’s the ‘Chocobo Game’?” Xion asked.

“It’s sort of like ‘spin the bottle,’” Vanitas said, accepting the toy back. “Except you spin yourself and throw the chocobo to your victim.”

Axel laughed. “‘ _Victim_.’”

“Everyone get in a circle, boy, girl, boy, girl,” Vanitas said, gesturing with his hands.

“Van,” Sora said as everyone shuffled around as he had directed, “We can’t play this. Mom and dad will find out.”

“What do you mean, ‘we can’t play this’?” Vanitas spat. “Why do you think I got you guys this chocobo in the first place.” He held the toy up by its little leg, dangling it almost tauntingly.

“Well, I’m not playing,” Ven said, crossing his arms. “When mom finds out, I’m going to be the innocent one.”

Vanitas turned on him. “Good. You can be the spinner.”

“That would make me an accessory to a crime.”

“Guys!” Kairi interjected, “Can we stop talking about it and just play?”

Vanitas smirked. “Someone’s eager. Give me your tie,” he said to Terra, who for some reason decided to dress business casual to the party. “We need it for a blind-fold.” As he tied the tie around his eyes, Roxas looked around at who he was sitting next to.

He was nestled between Naminé and Xion, with Riku on Naminé’s other side and Sora on Xion’s other side with the rest of his friends crowded around the circle, save for Vanitas and Ven, the latter of whom was spinning the former around a few times before steadying him.

Vanitas blindly tossed the chocobo in front of him, hitting Selfie square in the face. A few oohs, along with her giggle could be heard throughout the room. She stood and flounced up to him, standing on her tip-toes to peck him on the lips. Several people whooped and laughed, but Roxas felt a weight settle in his stomach.

He had never kissed anyone before, and now he was expected to kiss some mystery person in front of everyone? He now saw the wisdom in Ven’s decision not to play. But…What if it was Xion? What if he threw the chocobo to Xion and she _had_ to kiss him, or the other way around. Ha! Ven was a fool for not wanting to play such an amazing game! But…What if Xion didn’t want to kiss him? And he was forcing himself on her?! But there was no way he could back out now without handing in his man card.

Vanitas removed the blind-fold and smirked. “I thought I tasted a slut.”

“Hey!” Selfie punched him on the arm, scowling as she accepted the blind-fold he handed her with a derisive laugh. She tied it around her head and let Ven spin her around.

The game went on, and Roxas’s anxiety grew each time the chocobo flew nearby. Selfie received a kiss from Titus, he received a kiss from Naminé, she received a kiss from Demyx, and he received a kiss from…Xion.

Roxas decided then and there that he never really cared much for the boy as Xion stood and gave him a light kiss, giggling as her face turned red. Demyx removed the blind-fold and chuckled at the embarrassed expression on her face.

“At least buy me a drink first, Xion,” he said, patting her on the head.

“Oh, shut up.” She took the blind-fold out of his hands and put it over her own eyes, stepping carefully in her heels when Ven gave her a few good spins. She teetered slightly when he halted her, pointing directly at Roxas. He caught Ven’s wink over her shoulder and wished he could be anywhere else.

Xion tossed the chocobo, and it seemed to fly in slow-motion through the air. But not at Roxas. It ended up a foot-and-a-half away from him, heading towards Riku. He began to panic. Not Riku. Anyone but Riku! Roxas’s hand moved of its own accord, reaching across Naminé and snatching the chocobo out the air before Riku could catch it. The people in the circle around him went nuts, whooping, whistling, oohing and laughing, but Roxas’s heart had stopped, barely registering Sora’s congratulatory pat on the back. _What have I done?_ he thought to himself, covering his mouth with his hands.

“Now it’s getting good,” Vanitas said with a wicked grin.

“Oh, no,” Xion said with a nervous chuckle. “I’m not so sure about this anymore.”

“Don’t be scared!” Prompto shouted out, “It’s—”

“Hey, don’t tell her!”

“Roxas, who is it?” she demanded, and laughter flitted throughout the room.

He managed to pick his flaming red face out of his hands. “You’ll just have to find out,” he said in a sing-song voice, standing up.

Everyone watched with bated breath as he approached her, slipping a hand on the back of her neck and pulling her into a kiss. But it wasn’t a little peck like everyone else had received; it was a sustained kiss, lasting for several seconds as everyone whooped and whistled around them. Roxas pulled back, internally quaking as he watched her remove the blind-fold. Her eyes went wide upon seeing him.

“Ohmygosh, Roxas!” she cried, clapping a hand over her mouth, laughing as her face turned red.

He chuckled and took the tie from her. “Okay, my turn,” he said, trying to play it off like it was no big deal, except that it was a _huge_ deal, and he was screaming on the inside.

He put on the blindfold and continued the game, tossing the chocobo and receiving a twirl, dip, and peck on the cheek from Lightning. Everyone received at least one kiss, and they had even convinced Ven to play a round, who was visibly pleased to be kissed by Strelitzia, grinning like a schoolboy.

“What are you kids doing?” a voice snapped. The room went silent and the kids looked around in fear at the sight of Sora and Roxas’s dad standing by the stairs with his arms crossed, wearing a scowl. “What is that?” He pointed at the toy in Ven’s hands and the boy’s face went beet red.

He glanced down at the chocobo and chucked it at Vanitas. “Van did it,” he stated.

“Everyone back upstairs!”

The kids jumped to their feet and rushed past the older man, save for Vanitas who was stopped by his uncle’s firm grip on his arm. “Just wait until your mother hears about this!”

Roxas looked back with a smirk at the pouting Vanitas as his father began to rail into him. He nudged Axel’s arm and nodded to his cousin. “That one’s for the history books,” he whispered.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. Roxas could hardly pay attention when anyone spoke to him unless it was Xion, and when someone else dragged him into a conversation, his eyes always swiveled back to her, watching her laugh with her friends and falling hopelessly deeper in love with her smile.

Riku watched him watch her from across the backyard, with an amused shake of his head, ignoring whatever Sora was twittering about. It was clear they both wanted each other, but neither had the cajones to admit it. If only Xion knew what Roxas had done during the game, then maybe there’d be a little headway. He smirked.

“I’m gonna tell her,” he said, cutting Sora off.

“Tell who what?” he said, cocking his head.

“I’m going to tell Xion what happened when Roxas kissed her.”

“What? Why?”

Riku shrugged. “So they’ll finally get together.”

Sora gasped and punched his arm. “Don’t you dare! Let them work out their feelings on their own!”

“On their own?” Riku scoffed. “We’d be here till next year waiting for them to do things on their own! I have to tell her.” He began to make his way over to Xion, who laughed with her friends while sitting on a porch swing. Sora grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

“ _Riku_ …” he whined.

“It’ll be fine,” he said, shrugging off Sora’s hand.

Riku grabbed a free can of soda from a picnic table by the grill as he approached the girl, unaware of his presence as she glanced across the yard, ignoring her friends’ chatter. Riku followed her gaze to find Roxas returning her smile with one of his own before looking away. Riku snickered with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey, Xion,” he said. She blinked at his sudden arrival, but smiled. “Soda?” he offered her the can.

“Thanks.” She took the drink and pulled the tab, taking a few sips as he leaned against the frame of the swing. Riku glanced at the girls nearby, pleased to see them engrossed in a conversation with Olette about something that had happened at her fast-food job. He smiled to himself and returned his attention back to Xion.

“So,” he said casually, “I take it you’re not gonna tell your dad about the game earlier?”

Xion scoffed. “Xemnas would kill me,” she laughed. “But what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him. Or me.”

“Hmm.” Riku nodded and sent a smirk her way. “It seems,” he said, “That tonight is just full of unknowns, huh?”

“Full of unknowns?” She cocked her head at him.

“Yeah. Like your dad doesn’t know about the game, and…” Riku shrugged, “You don’t know what _really_ happened earlier. So, yeah. Full of unknowns.” He walked away from her, leaving Xion sitting in confusion.

“Wait!” she jumped up and grabbed his arm as Sora had before. “What really happened?”

Riku laughed. “Are you that interested?”

“Yes!” Xion said, eyes wide.

“Well…” He paused for dramatic effect. “You weren’t supposed to kiss Roxas.”

She furrowed her brows. “What?”

“When you threw the chocobo,” Riku continued, “It was aimed at me, but Roxas reached across Naminé and caught it before I could.”

Xion’s eyes grew wide again, and her jaw slowly fell open. “Are you saying…?” she trailed off.

“Roxas must have really wanted to kiss you,” Riku said with a shrug. “And it seemed like you were pretty okay with it. I would talk to him if I were you.” he nodded his head in Roxas’s direction.

Xion looked over to see him giving the two of them a curious look that she could easily describe as jealousy. His eyes met hers and he looked away.

“Did he really…?” she said. Riku nodded.

“Good luck.” And with that, he was off, walking back to Sora’s side.

Xion stood there frozen, unsure of what to do next. Nothing had brought her more elation than finding out that her mystery kisser had been Roxas, but now a cold fear and frayed nerves weighed in her stomach as anxiety clutched her mind.

Did Roxas really like her that way? Or was he just being a teenage boy who just wanted to kiss a girl and she was the easiest option. But he wouldn’t treat her as an option, would he? They were best friends, and she really liked him. Could Riku have been telling the truth? A light hand on her shoulder made her jump.

“Sorry,” Roxas said, appearing next to her. “You okay?” he asked gently. She nodded.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine

“What happened?” he said. “Was Riku giving you a hard time?”

“No. Well, yeah, but…no. Riku isn’t the problem,” Xion said with a shake of her head.

“It wasn’t Riku?” Roxas breathed out a sigh. “Well what’s wrong?”

She drew a sharp breath. “Can we talk in private for a sec?” she whispered.

Roxas nodded and guided her away from the party, stopping by a tree near the back of the yard. She could hardly see his face through the darkness.

“It was…the game from earlier,” she said softly.

Roxas paused. “You mean the 'Chocobo game?'” he asked guardedly.

She nodded. “Riku told me what happened. How I was supposed to kiss him and not you, but you…caught the chocobo…” she trailed off.

Even in the darkness, she could see Roxas’s eyes widen. He swallowed and opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He grasped for words and ran a hand through his hair when none came forth.

“Roxas?” Xion asked gently. She jumped again when he cursed loudly, drawing a few glances from the fringes of the crowd of party-goers.

“I am _so_ sorry, Xion,” Roxas said pleadingly. “If I knew you would be uncomfortable, I wouldn’t have done it, I _promise_.” Xion stared at him, dumbfounded, but Roxas continued on, beginning to pace back and forth. “We’re best friends, and I don’t want to ruin that, but I have to be honest here, I kind of have a thing for you.” Her jaw dropped for the second time that evening. “And I totally get it if you don’t feel that way,” he rambled on. “Our friendship is the most important thing to me, so,” he faced her directly, “If you don’t like me like that, just say the word, and I’ll never bring it up again.” He held his breath as she stared at him, neither moving an inch.

“Are you serious?” she asked, looking at him with wide eyes.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Oh, Roxas,” she chuckled. “I…kind of have a thing for you, too.”

It was his turn to give her a look of disbelief. “What?” he said flatly.

She laughed again and drew her arms around him, pressing her lips against his. He stiffened before pulling her close, returning the kiss greedily until lack of oxygen forced them apart. “I have a thing for you, too,” she repeated in a murmur.

He laughed and hugged her tightly. “I guess Axel was right,” he said.

Xion cocked her head. “About what? That we have huge crushes on each other?” She giggled.

“More like how you had a huge, obvious crush on me,” he teased, throwing his eyebrows. But she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“If it was so obvious,” she said, “Then how come _you_ didn’t noticed.” She released him to put her hands on her hips, but Roxas kept his on her waist.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not very bright when it comes to these things,” he said with a faux pout.

“I don’t know,” Xion said, glancing away as her cheeks tinged red. “That was a pretty slick move you pulled during the game.”

Roxas groaned as his own cheeks reddened. “I can’t believe I did that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I wasn’t even thinking.”

Xion giggled, clasping her hands to her chest. “Well, I’m glad you did.”

Roxas smiled softly, bringing his hand back to her waist and drawing her in again. “Me too.” He pressed his lips to hers again, unaware that their friends were watching from across the yard with big smiles (or smug grins in Axel’s case), but eternally grateful that Vanitas had suggested playing the chocobo game.


End file.
